I've seen this phrase here and there and I was wondering what are the origins/(is the) background to this phrase which is often used to represent, I think, Japanese racism. In all the contexts I have seen it used, it has been a reference to rascism, but it could be used in other contexts (if it is, I didn't know).

Wara wara is a phonomime for a crowd noise, and Nihonjin is a Japanese, but how it has arrived at its present connotation is of interest.

P.S. This is totally unrelated to the above, but there are a couple of Japanese people who's first names I am trying to figure out. One is Yamada (the one with the puffy lips and on various shows), the other is Ishazuka (?), who is heavyset, has narrow eyes, is one of Kikkoman's mascots, and appears on TV here and there. I also don't know the last or first name of Kikkomon's other mascot, so if you know it, I might be interested in hearing it.

Thanks to any and all future replies.

Last edited by Grit on Mon 07.24.2006 9:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

It's a way to separate Japanese people from the rest of humanity (and usually elevate them above the rest of humanity). Can be used to start such wonderfully well-informed sentences such as "We Japanese have different brain wave patterns. That's why Japanese language is so hard for gaijin."

"We Japanese have longer intestines. This explains why gaijin like bread and Japanese like rice."

As for the Tv people: 石塚 英彦 (Ishizuka Hidehiko) is the big jolly fellow, but I can't think of any males named Yamada who are popular now. Are you thinking of 浜田 雅功 (Hamada Masatoshi) one of the members of Downtown? He is on TV a lot.

Speaking of actresses with long TV life-spans (clever segue, no? ) I was shocked to see that Daiichi Mao is playing Oichi in this year's Taiga Drama, and she looks BETTER than she did when I was there and she was gettting engaged to Matsudaira Ken (damn him!).

Oh it's ware ware?! Heh, I see, well I came upon the phrase Wara Wara Nihonjin when I was looking up something about wara wara, so pardon my mistake. Just type Wara Wara Nihonjin into google and there are a bunch of topics with this used instead of ware ware. Thanks for the correction there, feel kind of stupid now (I thought it was strange that wara wara was in there).

As for the Tv people: 石塚 英彦 (Ishizuka Hidehiko) is the big jolly fellow, but I can't think of any males named Yamada who are popular now. Are you thinking of 浜田 雅功 (Hamada Masatoshi) one of the members of Downtown? He is on TV a lot.

Nope, I am definitely familiar with Hamada Masatoshi, along with Matsumoto Hitoshi.

Yamada is on err...IQ Sapuri with Ishizuka, and I have seen appearances of him here and there on various chat/talk shows. Again he has puffy lips.

P.S. It's too bad Oichi didn't die alongside Nagamasa, her character is irksome (not as much as Chiyo though, she should have been stabbed by being openly insolent by Nobunaga).

Man I feel pretty stupid, I mispelled both names. Yeah that's it, thanks Oyaji. But I have heard his surname said many times, why did I always perceive it to sound like Yamada? It must be my gaijin brainwave patterns or something .

It's too bad Nagamasa didn't get rid of his old man. It worked for Shingen...

Yea but Shingen did that for himself, had Nagamasa done that to his father it would have been over some affected, zero personality wife who obviously had more feelings for Nobunaga then she did for her husband. I still think Chiyo should have been offed somewhere though, in all seriousness if she opened her mouth that much (outside of a いどばたかいぎ) it all wouldn't just be fine and dandy (I'm not sexist, but you have to look at the time period, plus Nobunaga is crazy here...).

True. And Shingen had the support of many of the Takeda officials; Nagamasa was up the ogawa without a ro.

Yeah, Chiyo is a little mouthy, all things considered. I *think* we're supposed to think it has something to do with the favorable impression Kazutoyo has made with Nobunaga (so why does he keep saying, "Oh, you're Iwakura's... um..." when he sees him? ) that Nobunaga lets it slide. He definitely was one of those "play easy with the favorites" guys, but that does make me wonder why he never had someone see Kazutoyo and say, "Yo, Kaz. About your wife..."

Have you read Japonius Tyrranus? Hella good book. The first real study of Nobunaga in English, and it's amazing.

back on topic, i know the military uses the term wareware nihonjin when refering to themselves in military excercises.. they use alot of "older" terms.. and alot of command forms when giving instruction..

the jietai don't even callthemselves the ground self defence force.. they call themselve wareware nihonjin.. so whenever i hear this term it either sparks memories of reading the bible or standing in formation and hearing the all to familiar ki o tsuke. I also remember a Colonel tell me that when the military would use certain words. it was because of the Bushido or other traditions. Some they would explain others they would just say Ware Ware Nihonjin dakara..